sans the internet

Jeremy and I have lived in this apartment in Echo Park for one year and seven months. We love our rent. We love that we needn’t always depend on our cars to get around. We love that someone else fixes our stuff when it breaks. And we love that we don’t have to pay for internet.

Or. We loved that we didn’t have to pay for internet. Past tense.

It was great. Someone’s unsecured internet had been streaming into our home hassle-free, fee-free since the day we moved in. We really appreciated appleE9-something-or-other for having non-password-protected internet and a decent router that offered us plenty of mooching ability. Well one fateful day in the beginning of March, our dear appleE9 disappeared and left us with no (free) place to turn.

This post is actually not about money. It’s more about living for three and a half weeks sans a home-based internet connection.

At first it was annoying. It was also a pretty major inconvenience, especially with Jeremy in grad school facing major project deadlines. We had to run extra errands to look up directions, recipes, weekend recreation. But having to go find the internet–as opposed to having it at our fingertips here–meant spending far less time in front of a computer screen.

We cooked more. We cleaned more. We talked more. We ran more errands for the fun of hopping on the bike and spending time together. We read at least an hour before bed each night. Life in general just got a little more simple, pleasant, purposeful.

I’m not anti the internet. But how carefully do we consider the time we spend on it? And how often are we not doing other things that will help us become the kind of people we should be because we’re clicking and typing away on our laptops?

This guy thinks TV is kind of a waste of time. Not because it’s terrible on its own, but because of all the other great things it keeps us from. It’s true, and it’s true about the internet too. But let me tell you, it’s real easy to get sucked into the internet without noticing much.

Well thanks to Time Warner Cable, our internet is back up and running. But the past three weeks have been a little sobering. I think we should be careful about how much time we spend on the world wide web. I also think we should all read before bed. That’s what I plan to do.

shoot.

I’ve spent a while now hating on macs. Lovin on the PCs. Bonding with other PC lovers and sticking my nose up at those mac people. Well I hate to say it but dag nabit I’m lusting after my husband’s white macbook.

See my computer died last week because my power cord broke. I ordered myself a replacement cord, but of course it didn’t come in time and so I was forced to borrow Jeremy’s (temporarily) extra mac. Well today the power cord came and I sort of want to hide it and act like “shoot, it never got here” or “dang, it’s not charging. I guess my computer’s still dead.”

I bought myself a nice Toshiba two summers ago. And boy was I proud of my purchase. What a trusty, user-friendly, nice-looking computer. But I got on this mac and it just makes me want to be organized and hard-working and nicer to other people.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but now I fantasize about the day (probably far off, when I’m starting grad school or something) when I’ll absolutely need a new computer and I’ll be free to turn to apple. This could also have something to do with the fact that my trusty toshiba has developed some trusty neon lines that run down my screen. (some recently developed permanent decor. Thanks, tosh.)

Anyways I’m loving this mac and I think I have no choice but to finish my paper on it (wouldn’t it be such a hassle to download my paper to another computer? I know, I thought so too).